Monday, February 25, 2013

For the past few days Ive been craving beef- but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I was browsing through the recipe file for my weeks menus and this seemed like just the perfect fit. Its beefy, filling and delicious without taking too much time or effort. It was originally a Rachael Ray recipe- and I love that it takes less than 20 minutes to make almost as much as I love the way it tastes.

In large skillet over medium-high heat brown the ground meat in about a tablespoon or two of olive oil, about 5-6 minutes. While its still pink season liberally with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, until the onion is tender.

Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, bring up to a bubble and cook for about 2 minutes to let the sauce reduce to a nice thick bubbly mix.

Spilt open your rolls and pop into the oven to toast. After a minute top the top half with the shredded provolone and let it melt.

Top the bottom half with the meat mixture and smush together and enjoy!

Scrub your potatoes and slice them super thin, almost the whole way through.

I found they cook better if every so often you take out a small chunk, so that the layers can open up like an accordion.

Season each individual slice with salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and some butter and pop it into the oven at 425 for 40-50 minutes. The salt helps draw the moisture out and they get nice and crispy.

I feel like these would also be delish with some herbs smashed down in there too.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

You are seventeen months old today. Wow. How did that happen? I look back at pictures from a year ago and you're just this little tiny thing who didn't even crawl yet and now I cant stop you from moving.

I know I haven't done a monthly post in awhile, but I wanted to update with a few of what you are doing now.

Clothes: You are wearing 12-18 month shirts and onsies but 18-24 month pants for the length. Daddy and I have no idea where you get your height from, bubba, but we're not complaining. Your chubba wubba feet have normalised and you're in size 5.5 wide shoes right now. Youre in size 4 diapers and I think youll be there for awhile. Although recently you have been asking to go pee on the potty- and will go whenever we put you on there. We know you're not ready to be potty trained, but I love that you are trying to figure it out on your own before we think you're ready.

Food: You love to eat, but you are picky. Now I don't mean you'll only eat chicken nuggets for every meal, I mean you will pick what you want to eat for that meal and that is ALL you will eat. For example you love mac n cheese, but if you decide thats not what you want to eat you will actually gag yourself so you dont have to eat it. You also will not eat the same thing for two days in a row, leftovers or fresh. You are such a stinker. You like grapes, carrots, chicken, cereal (kix, life, cheereos, and captain crunch are your favorites), bananas, apples, crackers, peanut butter, corn, potatoes (not mashed, you HATE those), rice, soup, crumbled up ground meat, pizza, broccoli, pasta and bread of any kind. You're pretty willing to try new foods as long as they are on your terms, and if Mommy is eating something you simply must try it and usually claim my plate as yours. You also drink like a fish. I have never seen a baby who drinks water like you do.

You're full of personality and recently have picked up several tricks. You have an evil laugh that you do whenever you know youre being naughty, and it cracks us all up. You hide your toys under your leg and tell us all gone, just like Daddy does when he plays with you. Putting your hands behind your back or in your pockets is a new trick, and you make us laugh with your silly walk shows. You love to chase the dogs with your toys and enjoy it when you can scare them into running out of the room.

Current favorite toys are your ball pit, your ball popper on a stick, books of any kind, and cars cars cars. You are also currently obsessed with the Ipad and can work it better than I can. You're starting to really like Caillou on TV, and love hockey and football just like your Daddy.

You went to the dentist for the second time this month and she said your teeth look amazing. Youre getting your canines now, then we should have a 2-3 month break before your last molars come in. She predicts you will have all of your teeth within 4 months. Mommy really hopes you get your teeth from Daddy and not her, because he's definitely got the better chompers in the family.

This month you also sent Nana to the ER when you poked her in the eye on accident and scratched her cornea. She had to wear an eye patch for awhile and you thought that was pretty darn funny. She said it hurt really bad, but kisses and snuggles from you make it better. Especially when you blow kisses to her from across the room and then run like mad to give her a big wet real kiss on the face. You're full of love and light, stinky pickle, and everyone around you sees it.

Every day it feels like you do something new and exciting, that prompts someone to say "When did he start doing that?" Its amazing how smart you are and how much you jibber to us daily. You make our lives better every single day, and we couldn't be more proud of you. Daddy and I say every day how lucky we are to have you and that includes when you're naughty.

(you'll totally kill me for this picture someday, but I crack up whenever I see it- so, sorry kid!)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

In reality, I'm still new to this whole Mom thing. Knowing that, I'm shocked that in his short little life span Grayson has made some of these phrases come out of my mouth. The worst part HAS to be that you have to say these things with a straight face- and sometimes when you look back on the moment you have no idea how you managed to not pee your pants. I know we all have something that our children have made us say that we can't believe, so please feel free to share so that I don't feel like the only one!

No! We do not eat the dog's food!

Please do no lick the kitchen floor, that's gross.

Grayson, where did you find powder?

*as he leads me to the pantry where he has exploded a WHOLE bag of flour onto every imaginable surface*

Buddy, we don't make it snow inside, that makes Mommy mad and we are out of wine.

Quit poking the dog in the butt!

Hold still- I need to pick your booger!!

Please stop shoving cheese in your ear.

What did you just flush down the potty???!

We don't laugh out loud when we fart, we say excuse me!

Whats in your mouth? Why are you eating a penny? Didn't Daddy feed you today?!

We do not chase the doggies with our toys, and we do NOT beat the dog over the head with them either!

Do you have to pee? No? Well then its not appropriate to grab yourself and dance in public. Please stop that.

We do not drink the dogs water!!

Please dont scrub the sink with Daddy's toothbrush, he will not be happy!

Monday, February 11, 2013

I clean my bathroom fairly religiously, because I'm always leery of Grayson playing in the tub and it being full of germs. However, the one area that I could never get clean no matter how hard I scrubbed is the grout joint between the tub and the tile. The hubs says its because water got behind the tiles and they need replaced. Now one would think with a husband who does that for a living that it would happen quickly...but since we only have one bathroom in the house it makes it a little tough to give up our only tub for 3-5 days for a remodel.

So here it is- the nasty bathroom issue in all its embarrassing glory. (Remember- I said no judgies!)

Now the best part- I figured out how to fix it.

All you need is a bag of the cotton used for perms (you know, the cotton rope), rubber gloves and some Clorox Bleach.

I took the cotton rope and plunked it into a Solo cup full of bleach and allowed it to get nice and sopping wet. Then, wearing rubber gloves, I took it out of the bleach and smushed the sopping cotton into the grout joint. Really push it so its right up against the grout. Then you can pour the extra bleach over the cotton to re-saturate it.

I let it set for about 5 hours, but you can leave it on there as long as you need.

When I pulled it off it looked like this-

No more bathroom nasties!!

(But there is some lovely tub crayon artwork courtesy of the Grayson-Boy!)

It really works, and for the $1.59 it cost me for the cotton I believe it was well worth it. I'm not embarrassed to have people shower in my bathroom anymore! Woo hoo!

Monday, February 4, 2013

We love football in this house. Its the one sport that hubs and I can watch together because I understand it enough to not annoy him to bits with my questions. Its not a question of what team we root for here- this gal bleeds Black and Gold. Now while they are good, they obviously don't win every year (and some years we down right crap the bed like we did this season). Usually when my beloved Steelers aren't in the big game, we still watch the Superbowl every year, and pick a team to root for. This is the first time that I don't care who was playing or who really wins. Its tough to root for the Ravens, they're a division rival- and if San Francisco wins they tie the Steelers for the most Superbowl wins....it really is a catch 22. So this year, I've decided that I'm just watching for the commercials. That didn't, however, stop me from wanting some good munchies for the game.

My mom had made shredded chicken to use in a pulled chicken dip and had some extra so she tossed it our way. I love me some leftovers, so that was fine by me, but I wanted something different to make with them.

So after searching my fridge and asking the hubs what he was in the mood for I came up with this.

So super easy, so good and they took a whopping 15 minutes.

All you need is some shredded chicken, cheese, BBQ sauce and a tube of crescent rolls.

Preheat oven according to directions on the rolls.

Put chicken in a bowl and add enough BBQ sauce to coat.

Unroll your crescents and put a good spoonful of chicken on the fat end of each roll. Top with some shredded cheese and then roll up.

I was worried that the cheese would glug out of the side of the crescent as it baked, but it didn't. Everything stayed where it was supposed to, which also made for easy clean up. Perfect for football food- so you can spend more time in front of the tv! I popped them into the hot oven for 10 minutes and they were all gone in less than 5. I may not care much about the game, but at least the food was delish!

Welcome to my crazy life!Come along with me as I attempt to navigate the crazy life of a wife, new mommy, professional cheapskate, DIY-er, and teacher

I'm a wife to the hubs and a mama to the bean. A lover of sweet tea and pajama pants. A wanna-be photographer and world traveler. A black and gold football junkie. Cheap at heart, with expensive taste. Spend my days chasing the man-child, DIY-ing my dreams, and keeping a lid on my sarcasm. This is my crazy life, welcome to it.